In a vehicle engine, for the purpose of protecting a fuel pipe for supplying fuel to a fuel injector from the loading of a frontal vehicle crash, it is known to cover a side of the fuel pipe facing away from the cylinder block with a protective member. See JP2014-95323A, for instance.
However, the protective member for protecting a fuel pipe disclosed in this patent document consists of a cantilever extending upward so that the protective member is required to have a significant thickness in order to withstand a loading of a vehicle crash. This problem is particularly acute when a device such as a radar for detecting objects ahead of the vehicle is installed in a front part of the engine room because the crash loading may be transmitted to the protective member via the device typically housed in a mechanically stiff casing.